Russian Digest
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Blinken Says ‘No Doubt’ Russia Has Wrongfully Detained WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he had “no doubt” a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russian security services last week during a reporting trip and accused of espionage was wrongfully detained, but that the process to reach an official determination on his detention was pending.
The official designation would rev up the U.S. government’s efforts to win Evan Gershkovich’s release. Supervision of his case would then shift to a State Department section known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which is focused on negotiating for the release of hostages and other Americans classified as wrongfully detained in foreign countries.
Mr. Blinken told reporters in Brussels, where he was attending a ministerial summit for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that on his recent call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, he expressed his views on the unacceptable and wrongful detention of Mr. Gershkovich and demanded that Russia release both Mr. Gershkovich and another American, Paul Whelan, who is being held on similar charges.
“In Evan’s case, we are working through the determination of wrongful detention,” Mr. Blinken said. “There is a process to do that and it’s something we are working through very deliberately but expeditiously as well.”
“In my own mind, there is no doubt that he is being wrongfully detained by Russia,” he added.
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Bulgaria closes ports for all Russian ships
The Bulgarian authorities close their ports to all Russian ships, regardless of the flag under which they sail, according to PortSEurope.
The decision comes into force on April 8 and is linked to the EU directive on the implementation of sanctions.
Vessels flying Russian flags can no longer enter Bulgarian ports. The country’s maritime administration imposed a ban on April 17 as part of the fifth EU sanctions package, making an exception only for the supply of critical products from Russia.
Now, the ban is being expanded: ships registered in the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping will not be able to enter Bulgarian ports, both sea, and river.
Bulgaria remains the only EU country that continues to buy Russian oil by sea, thanks to sanctions exemptions that the authorities negotiated in Brussels. In March, the volume of such supplies fluctuated between 63 and 104 thousand barrels per day, Bloomberg estimates based on data on tanker traffic.
Now Bulgarian ports will be closed for tankers with Russian registration, which could carry oil bypassing the "price ceiling". It is set by the European Union and the G7 countries at $60 per barrel.
https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/04/05/v-tsentre-moskvi-zagorelos-zdanie-minoboroni-a39234
Russia plans to ferry 2,000 of its troops from Belarus to eastern Ukraine - State Border Service
Russia plans to redeploy part of its military from Belarus to eastern Ukraine.
This was stated by the spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko.
"Previously, we reported that there are about four thousand Russian soldiers on the territory of Belarus. After the measures that have started now, their number will decrease even more," said Demchenko.
According to the border service, about 2,000 troops will leave Belarus, which Russia plans to recruit in the future to strengthen its group in the east of Ukraine.
At the same time, the speaker of the DPSU emphasized that nothing has changed in the actions of the units of the Belarusian army, and they are at a certain distance from the Ukrainian border.
"Neither the nature of their actions nor their number has changed. But despite all this, we must be ready for the development of any situation, because we understand the treachery of the enemy. Therefore, from our side, as before, the strengthening of both the border lines and border lines," explained Deschenko.
https://censor.net/ua/n3410377
Nikolai Grechushkin relieved of his post as Deputy Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the release of Colonel General Nikolai Grechushkin from the post of Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.
The document signed on Wednesday was published on the official Internet portal of legal information.
Earlier, on March 29, Putin signed a decree on the release of Colonel-General of the Internal Service Alexander Chupriyan from the post of First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation.
Source: Russian state media Interfax
US sanctions 4 Georgian judges for involvement in ‘significant corruption’
The United States on April 5 barred four Georgian judges and their immediate family members from entering the U.S. “due to their involvement in significant corruption.”
The four officials were named as Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze.
According to the State Department, the judges “abused their positions as court Chairmen and members of Georgia’s High Council of Justice, undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in Georgia’s judicial system.”
The decision comes amid recent protests that erupted in Georgia in response to a Russian-inspired “foreign agents” draft law that was passed in its first reading in the Georgian parliament on March 7.
The U.S. Embassy in Georgia said the legislation was “incompatible with the people of Georgia’s clear desire for European integration and its democratic development” and called March 7 “a dark day for Georgia’s democracy.”
The State Department in its press release on the travel ban reiterated its commitment to upholding democracy and rule of law in Georgia, promising to “continue to promote accountability for those who abuse public power for personal gain.”
State Dept: https://ge.usembassy.gov/fact-sheet-7031c-designations-of-georgian-officials/
The Moscow authorities announced the transfer of the construction site of the mosque near the Holy Lake. This was demanded by the movement of the “Orthodox oligarch” Malofeev
The Moscow authorities announced the transfer of the construction site of a mosque for 60,000 seats near the Holy Lake in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district of the capital.
“For its construction, a land plot will be allocated near the Kosino metro station, between the future MCD-3 diameter, the Moscow High-Speed Diameter, and the Moscow Ring Road. Within walking distance from metro and MCD stations,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. He also noted that the area of the mosque will be 2.5 thousand square meters.
The transfer was demanded by various radical associations calling themselves Orthodox activists. In particular, the Forty Sorokov movement demanded to move the construction site, but Konstantin Malofeev's organization Two-Headed Eagle opposed the mosque most actively. The latter is known as an “Orthodox oligarch”, the owner of the Tsargrad TV channel and publication, and also a “sponsor” of the war in eastern Ukraine - it was through Malofeev that the Kremlin financed the Donbas ‘separatists’ after 2014.
The "double-headed eagle" in a public statement called the construction of the mosque a "gross political mistake" by Sergei Sobyanin. The same organization campaigned for the collection of signatures under a petition against the construction. Malofeev himself appealed publicly to Sobyanin demanding that the construction of the mosque be postponed, since "Holy Lake is holy for the Orthodox." Malofeev also reminded the Moscow authorities of a legend according to which a temple stood on the site of the lake, which "sank underground and sank." Because of this, the water is supposedly “clean as a tear” in the lake. During the construction of the mosque, “the secret of the lake could be violated,” Malofeev’s Tsargrad website says.
The issue of the construction of a mosque near the Holy Lake became the cause of the conflict between radicals, both Orthodox and Muslims. In response to the protests of the “activists” of Malofeev, some fighters allegedly from the front in Ukraine spoke out. They demanded that the authorities punish the protesters. They also promised to “catch up” with those who are against the construction and threatened with destruction.
Threats also rained down on MMA fighter Maxim Divnich, who opposed the construction. Even the blogger Khasbik (Khasbulla Magomedov) spoke out and wrote on Divnich's page that he would not come to Dagestan for training anymore.
Ramzan Kadyrov also spoke out, suggesting that the protesters go to the trenches and defend the Russian land there. “If all these rally participants wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly came up with the idea of defending the Russian land, then go ahead into the trenches with a machine gun! One cannot take in the vast expanses of Russian land on the front line, which must be defended every day. Take a machine gun, push away the Muslim who is fighting instead of you today in the “Russian Donbas,” and show your patriotism, show indeed, and not in words or provocations, how much you love your Motherland, ”Kadyrov wrote.
However, there are those who are already in the trenches but still oppose the construction of the mosque, despite the words of Kadyrov.
In turn, calls are being actively published in z-publics to prevent the “construction of a mosque for migrants”.
Note: This growing war between the Russian Orthodox protesters and Chechens is something to monitor and could potentially escalate.
The building of the Ministry of Defense caught fire in the center of Moscow
In Moscow, the building of the Ministry of Defense on Znamenka Street caught fire, TASS reports citing emergency services.
“At 19 Znamenka Street, a fire broke out in one of the buildings on the territory of the Ministry of Defense. Intense burning is observed from a window on the third floor," the source said.
According to TASS, the fire was assigned the second level of danger out of five. Later, the agency, citing the Ministry of Defense, reported that the fire had been contained, and there were no casualties.
Telegram channels Baza and 112 reports that the source of ignition is located in an office on the 5th floor.
The cause of the fire was "an emergency mode of the power grid," TASS reported, citing emergency services.
The building of the Ministry of Defense on Znamenka Street is the former estate of the Apraksins, it was built at the end of the 18th century. Now the building houses the administrative services of the Ministry of Defense, including the Department of Military Property and the Department of Housing. In addition, it houses the Museum of Soviet Commander Georgy Zhukov.
As RBC clarifies, this building was already on fire in 2016, then its roof collapsed.
https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/04/05/v-tsentre-moskvi-zagorelos-zdanie-minoboroni-a39234
China’s Ambassador to the E.U. Tries to Distance Beijing From Moscow
In an hourlong interview ahead of a European diplomatic mission to Beijing, China’s ambassador to the European Union said that critics had misinterpreted his country’s relationship with Russia, and suggested their ties may not be as limitless as their leaders once declared.
The Chinese ambassador, Fu Cong, spoke with The New York Times before Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission travel to China on Wednesday for a three-day trip.
E.U. leaders are struggling to balance their deep trade ties with China against American pressure to toughen their policies, especially in light of China’s support for Russia since the war began. China tries to present itself as a mediator, insisting that it respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine while endorsing some of Moscow’s narrative about the war.
Here are a few highlights of the interview:
The ambassador downplayed Russia and China’s declaration of a “no limits” friendship last year.
Just three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine Presidents Vladimir V. Putin and Xi Jinping signed a joint statement declaring “no limits” to their countries’ friendship. But Mr. Fu said China was not on Russia’s side on the war and that some people “deliberately misinterpret this because there’s the so-called ‘no limit’ friendship or relationship.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/05/world/europe/eu-china-embassador-russia-fu-cong.html
Russian spies rebound in Europe
Critical infrastructure is a key target for Russia’s intelligence gathering, the priority being to monitor ‘the production and supply of Western arms to Ukraine.’
Russia is trying to rebound from last year’s coordinated mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic guise in Europe.
And there’s now growing evidence that Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) and its military intelligence agency (GRU) are aggressively trying to rebuild their human espionage networks — particularly with an eye toward military aid going to Ukraine.
In what Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s security service MI5, dubbed the “most significant strategic blow” against Moscow in recent intelligence history, more than 400 so-called undeclared intelligence officers have been drummed out of Europe since the invasion of Ukraine, including from France, Belgium and Germany, dramatically reducing the Kremlin’s reach and ability to spy in Europe.
And on Thursday, Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) said the expulsions of Russian intelligence officers, and visa refusals for their replacements, have substantially weakened Moscow’s intelligence operations in the Nordic region.
“The Russian intelligence station [in Finland] shrank to about half of its former size last year,” SUPO Director Antti Pelttari said. “While Russia is still seeking to station intelligence officers under diplomatic cover, it will have to find ways of compensating for the human intelligence shortfall, such as by increasingly adopting other forms of covert operation abroad,” he added.
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